Porimol Palma

Bangladesh hosted the World Peace Conference in Dhaka on December 4-5, 2021, inviting renowned peace and rights activists from across the world.

Dictatorship is a dangerous way of rule. It can demolish a country and poses risks for more conflict, said Turkish writer and journalist Ahmet Coskunaydin.

Bangladesh is deepening its ties with the Maldives, a small South Asian island nation, as part of its greater objective of regional integration in South Asia in the areas of trade, connectivity, migration and tourism.

Bangladesh’s immediate challenge is accelerating the Covid-19 vaccination programme to cover the targeted 80 percent of the population, said a World Bank official.

Malaysia will soon open its market for Bangladeshi workers, ending a freeze of more than three years, but concerns remain over the syndication of a few agents and the high cost of migration -- major factors behind labour exploitation in the past.

The US on December 10 imposed sanctions on Rab and its seven current and former top officials on human rights grounds.

Rab will neither be allowed to own properties in the US nor engage in transactions with anyone in the US because of the sanctions.

Today marks the 50th year of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and India, which gave Bangladesh formal recognition – something that the Mujib Nagar Government had been seeking urgently from the international community to be independent from the misrule of West Pakistan.

Malaysia is going to recruit security guards from Bangladesh, the second country after Nepal that has so far been allowed to send people to the Southeast Asian nation for the sector.

The exclusion of Bangladesh from US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy has triggered surprise, questions and caution among foreign relations analysts, especially as there is no clear explanation given though Washington considers Dhaka its strategic ally in the Asia-Pacific.

Adoption of a resolution on the Rohingya by consensus at the UN has created momentum towards resolving the Rohingya crisis, and Dhaka now needs to amplify diplomatic efforts towards a sustainable Rohingya solution, said analysts.

Realising the growing importance of economy and security, the US is moving away from its old idea of Bangladesh and is looking to chart the next 50 years of relationship between the two countries in a new way, a top US official has said.

Bangladesh wants to develop political and trade relations with France while the latter is keen to improve defence cooperation with Dhaka.

Bangladesh will buy five naval ships from the UK to modernise the armed forces as part of the Forces Goal 2030 as the country aspires to become a developed nation by 2041.

Scepticism grows among policymakers and foreign relations analysts over Bangladesh-Afghan relationship under the Taliban, which have formed an interim government with the hardliners despite their promise of an inclusive cabinet.

Bangladesh and UK will hold a two-day strategic dialogue beginning today. It will cover political, diplomatic, trade and development relationship between the two countries in the post-Brexit era.

Coming out of past diplomatic rows, Bangladesh and Turkey are deepening relations as the latter seeks to regain its position in the Muslim world, while Dhaka looks for strong allies on the global stage to resolve the Rohingya crisis and boost trade, analysts have said.

The evacuation process of the six Bangladeshi engineers from Kabul could only be described as a nightmare in which they saw horrific events, including bomb blasts and killings.

As international funding for the Rohingyas declines, Bangladesh faces increasing challenges to manage the displaced people amid little prospect of repatriation anytime soon.

Rohingya repatriation has become even more uncertain following the military takeover in Myanmar while the displaced people find it riskier to go back to their motherland where there is no legitimate government right now.